The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Vikings in uncharted waters
Mainstay Higgins helping new faces navigate a new division
Villa Angela-St. Joseph has made five consecutive trips to a state final. The Vikings won three titles along the way.
For how the Vikings will return to Columbus for a sixth straight year, coach Babe Kwasniak doesn’t have an answer yet.
VASJ graduated seven seniors from last year’s championship team. Danny McGarry, Will Butler, Terrance Williams, Andre George and Noah Newlon all logged heavy minutes in the Vikings’ rotation.
Six more players transferred during the offseason. 6-foot-8 forward Alonzo Gaffney, the state’s best player in the Class of 2019, departed for Garfield Heights. Reggie Priah, a junior forward expected to join the starting lineup, transferred to Euclid.
Moreover, competitive balance realignment moved VASJ into Division II. The Vikings now compete in the same region as defending D-II champion Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary and share a district with an improving Lake Catholic program.
There’s turnover on the bench, too, with the loss of assistant coaches Rich Newlon and Ashen Ward.
For the 2017-18 Vikings, Kwasniak says, uncharted waters await.
“It’s just the weirdest thing ever,” Kwasniak said. “You don’t know what’s going to happen.”
As VASJ enters the season after it won its seventh state title, the Vikings focus on what they have instead of what’s missing.
To start, VASJ still has its best player in guard Jerry Higgins who Kwasniak says is “everything that’s right about high school basketball.”
Higgins is 16 wins away from becoming the alltime winningest player in program history — ahead of all-time program greats Clark Kellogg, Treg Lee, David Lighty, Brian Parker, Carlton Bragg and Dererk Pardon.
Higgins’ leadership is vital to the Vikings’ development.
The roster consists of five fellow seniors with little varsity experience — Anthony DiNunzio, Oliver Carson, Stefan Weems, Isaiah Gary and Delanoe Harris.
A glut of juniors will be relied on for production: Jason Priah, Jordan Calhoun, Latrace Jackson, Khalil Mitcham and Graham Koppelman. Priah, Calhoun, Mitcham and Koppelman will likely round out VASJ’s starting five alongside Higgins in the Vikings’ opener against Euclid Dec. 1.
Then there are a trio of freshmen who could have the heaviest say in VASJ’s fortune. Enavell Lighty, Jaden Hameed and Jonah Waag will be counted on early by the Vikings. Lighty, the nephew of Ohio State’s David, is said around the program to be at a higher level than Bragg or Gaffney when they were freshmen. Hameed possesses offensive skill apt for an upperclassman and the same applies to Waag’s defensive instinct.
From seniors to freshmen, Higgins is the nexus.
“I want to be the teammate who pushes you on the court but can have fun with you off the court,” Higgins said. “I don’t want to be the dad of the team, but I just want to be the guy they all can relate to. I think that’ll bring us all together.”
Higgins says last year’s team was better in the halfcourt, and could run 50 plays. This year, the Vikings must rely on their defense to create transition opportunities.
An up-and-down style plays to the Vikings’ strengths.
Higgins, Hameed and Calhoun are lightningquick guards. Lighty, Jackson, Priah and Koppelman match their length with the speed to beat their opponents down the floor.
“This year we’re going to have to run and get stops and get deflections because we’re a little faster,” Higgins said. “So our mindset’s a little different, but we still have the same goals in mind for the end of the season and for during the season.”
VASJ will be tested out of the gate against Euclid followed by a road trip to Cleveland Heights on Dec.
7 then a home matchup with St. Vincent-St. Mary the next day. There’s little respite in a schedule headlined by matchups with Warren JFK, Mentor, Cornerstone Christian, Cleveland Central Catholic, Gilmour, Lake Catholic and St. Edward.
Kwasniak wouldn’t be surprised if the Vikings are under .500 headed into the state tournament.
“We’re made for March around here so I fully expect us to be a whole heck of a lot better,” Kwasniak said. “Are we going to be good enough to win it, to get to Columbus? I don’t know the answer to that. Right now, no way. No chance.”
Kwasniak, Higgins and the Vikings look forward to the challenge.
The upcoming season is reminiscent of two years ago. VASJ lost Bragg, Pardon, Parker and almost all of its production from the 2015 state championship team. Behind Higgins, then a sophomore, the Vikings made their way back to Columbus.
“It feels like every year I’ve played, it’s always been something,” Higgins said. “It is what it is, I have faith in my guys so that’s all that really matters.”